Going Negative Advertising Essay

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Throughout history politicians have used stump speaking, political rallies, political advertisements, and other various methods to achieve their primary goal, “the winning of votes,” (Syzbillo & Hartenbaum, 1976). However over recent years politicians have found that negative political advertisements are the most advantageous campaign technique. Conventional wisdom about negative political campaigning holds that it works. Negative campaigning is an effective means of winning votes, however some research suggests that negative campaigning tends to depress voter turnout because it lowers feelings of political efficacy and trust in the government (Lau, Sigelman, Rovner, 2007). So why is negative campaigning effective? Negative political ads …show more content…

There is a reason for this. Political scientists Stephen Ansolabehere and Shanto Iyengar summarized why advertisements have become of great importance for campaigns, in their book, Going Negative; Unlike most channels of communication, advertising allows candidates to reach uninterested and unmotivated citizens – those who ordinarily pay little attention to news reports, debates, and other campaign events. After all, the ‘audience’ for political advertising is primarily inadvertent – people who happen to be watching their preferred television programs. Of course, viewers can choose to tune out or channel surf during advertising breaks, but the fact remains that the reach of advertising extends beyond relatively attentive and engaged voters. (1995:52) The sights and sounds of the television are a staple in any American home. Therefore, TV advertising is one of the best tools for politicians to get their message to a large group of apolitical voters, those who don’t follow political campaigns. What is important to note is that these people are often profoundly influenced by the political advertisements of which they are exposed, (McAllister, …show more content…

Emotions are dispositions to act, although they do not always manifest in overt behavior (Frijda, 1987). Lang proved in his research that two motivational systems are activated by emotional inputs direct and indirectly through media (2006), such as televised political ads. The valence of the stimuli (positive or negative) determines which motivational system is activated (Bradley, Angelini, & Lee, 2007); the more arousing the stimulus the stronger the activation. Motivational activation, “initiates a cascade of sensory and motor processes, including processes, including mobilization of resources, enhanced perceptual processing, and preparation for action” (Bradley, 2009). The appetitive system is activated by positive stimuli, which facilitates approach tendency or behaviors, including mobilizing attentional resources for sensory intake (Wang et al., 2014). The aversive system is activated by negative stimuli, such as threats; with increased intensity of negative stimuli and greater activation of the aversive system, the attentional pattern often switches from information intake (i.e., identifying threat) to information rejection (i.e., fight or flight mode) (Lang, 2006). Thus Lang is saying our attention is motivated by our emotions. Understanding these two systems has helped to explain the effects of emotional messages on attention, affective, and behavior

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